Samsung to take on Apple's MacBooks in bid for notebook dominance - Page 2

There was this outfit back in the 90's called Northgate that tried to sell premium PC clones. Really beautiful well-built machines inside and out with the latest components. Had to abandon the strategy in '94 because a cheapo PC worked just as well for most people. Samsung is breathing some funny air if they think they can succeed where everyone else, including mighty IBM has failed.

Samsung selling premium priced PC clones is like VW selling a $100,000 luxury car. Oh wait, VW did try that with the Phaeton and crashed and burned deeper than a bunker buster bomb. Those Phaetons were a great bargain at $60,000 when VW shut down that operation.

Steve Jobs already stated the Mac was just another connected device now, and these ultraportables are a prime example of that vision. The RAM is soldered. The battery is non-user replaceable.

As we've seen since 2007 it's the premium smartphones, and now the premium tablets, that are selling more units than any single model of the budget category. But that's besides the point, they don't have to sell the most units, just be the most profitable and both Apple for the entire smartphone market and Samsung for the entire Android sub-market are showing that quality counts*.

* Samsung stil hasn't figured out that quality extends to customer service and support, but it doesn't seem like their customer base have figured that out either.

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There was this outfit back in the 90's called Northgate that tried to sell premium PC clones. Really beautiful well-built machines inside and out with the latest components. Had to abandon the strategy in '94 because a cheapo PC worked just as well for most people. Samsung is breathing some funny air if they think they can succeed where everyone else, including mighty IBM has failed.

Samsung selling premium priced PC clones is like VW selling a $100,000 luxury car. Oh wait, VW did try that with the Phaeton and crashed and burned deeper than a bunker buster bomb. Those Phaetons were a great bargain at $60,000 when VW shut down that operation.

It's a great car. Your analogy is a bit off, because Mac is experience top to bottom (software and hardware) and PC will never have that.

Samsung selling premium priced PC clones is like VW selling a $100,000 luxury car. Oh wait, VW did try that with the Phaeton and crashed and burned deeper than a bunker buster bomb. Those Phaetons were a great bargain at $60,000 when VW shut down that operation.

Like Bentley, Lamborghini or Bugatti? I'll take any one of those cars made by Volkswagen. And lets not forget who founded VW, Ferdinand Porsche.

Rolls Royce announced a jump in sales this year mainly in an upsurge in Chinese clients. Quality sells. Of course we don't know the performance quality of these ultrabooks but we do have some aesthetic and general build quality info of the machines at CES.

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LOL!
Samsung doesn't have a notebook. Lets get things straight, Microsoft controls 5000 patents on the pc. Sammy would do nothing more than pimp out a tech that is licensed mostly to MS. Period.
All they do is stamp their name a box. Let Sammy come out with their own OS surrounded by their own box then we can talk. But until then they are nothing but street walkers for MS!

LOL!
Samsung doesn't have a notebook. Lets get things straight, Microsoft controls 5000 patents on the pc. Sammy would do nothing more than pimp out a tech that is licensed mostly to MS. Period.
All they do is stamp their name a box. Let Sammy come out with their own OS surrounded by their own box then we can talk. But until then they are nothing but street walkers for MS!

They have a PC, it's MS that doesn't have a PC, just an OS. BTW Samsung also has some other Apple ripoffs running Chrome OS.

Then look at Samsung on handheld devices. They have their Bada OS but they also have Android. Google should be afraid of Samsung here because they big enough and have a large enough mindshare in the Android system to potentially fork Android. Why would they do this? If they can get you on their platform they can get you to stay much easier, something that is always a fear when dealing with distributed OSes.

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Consumer electronics maker Samsung has voiced its goal of becoming the No. 1 notebook maker, but it will run up against rival Apple and its hot-selling MacBook lineup on its way to the top.

Well, isn't this just precious... In typical fashion, Samsung spends lots of time telling us about the fabrication, the weight, the type of processor and details about the screen. However, there isn't a single word about what you can DO WITH IT!!

Good luck with that for a while. Sharp can't seem to make a decent iPad 3 display. Even LG took a while to learn how to make tablet displays that actually met QC specifications. Tim Cook's agreements with Samsung just show that it's pragmatism that wins out at the end of the day. I have no doubt Apple will gain optimizations out of diversifying their supply chain, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves and trick ourselves into believing that the corporate world is all about tit for tat.

Then look at Samsung on handheld devices. They have their Bada OS but they also have Android. Google should be afraid of Samsung here because they big enough and have a large enough mindshare in the Android system to potentially fork Android. Why would they do this? If they can get you on their platform they can get you to stay much easier, something that is always a fear when dealing with distributed OSes.

Pretty much. My friend and I have been talking about this for at least a year.

Well, isn't this just precious... In typical fashion, Samsung spends lots of time telling us about the fabrication, the weight, the type of processor and details about the screen. However, there isn't a single word about what you can DO WITH IT!!

There was this outfit back in the 90's called Northgate that tried to sell premium PC clones. Really beautiful well-built machines inside and out with the latest components. Had to abandon the strategy in '94 because a cheapo PC worked just as well for most people. Samsung is breathing some funny air if they think they can succeed where everyone else, including mighty IBM has failed.

Samsung selling premium priced PC clones is like VW selling a $100,000 luxury car. Oh wait, VW did try that with the Phaeton and crashed and burned deeper than a bunker buster bomb. Those Phaetons were a great bargain at $60,000 when VW shut down that operation.

Except that the Series 9 notebook is now in its second generation. They've already worked on a variety of other premium PC products such as all-in-ones and now even ultrabooks. Samsung wouldn't have released such products and marketed them to such an extent if they thought they would face the Phaeton's fate. Unlike the Phaeton, there doesn't seem to be a confusion over what's premium and what isn't among many notebook buyers and reviewers who recognize it's a pretty decent notebook.

The larger screen and smaller bezel is great. But I also can't help wonder if Samsung gets a kick out of trying to piss Apple off by copying bits and pieces of Apple's products, like the keyboard on this model.

Not only clueless but over confident without knowing what they're doing. I suppose they're going to put OSX on there notebooks too. Oops can't do that so I guess they'll have to run Winblows, so much for your notebook being as good as Apple's. Your plan Samsung is destroyed already.
They've gotten really cocky lately after stealing Apple's iPhone and iPad designs and calling it there own. Now they want to do the same with Apple's portable computers too. They also claim to have had the knowledge of what Steve Jobs called the true answer to a great TV 12 months already.
What a bunch of poppy cock!!!

Sold 32 million smartphones or given away. Many of there smartphone sales are buy 1 get one free. So they are stretching the truth on how many they actually sold since half of them are given away. So there actual total sales are 16 million smartphones sold and 16 million given away.
Therefore making Apple the number one smartphone in actual sales of up to 30 million iPhones sold.

Then look at Samsung on handheld devices. They have their Bada OS but they also have Android. Google should be afraid of Samsung here because they big enough and have a large enough mindshare in the Android system to potentially fork Android. Why would they do this? If they can get you on their platform they can get you to stay much easier, something that is always a fear when dealing with distributed OSes.

Keep in mind that, for the past seven or eight years, the best laptop running Windows has generally been a MacBook.

Sold 32 million smartphones or given away. Many of there smartphone sales are buy 1 get one free. So they are stretching the truth on how many they actually sold since half of them are given away. So there actual total sales are 16 million smartphones sold and 16 million given away.
Therefore making Apple the number one smartphone in actual sales of up to 30 million iPhones sold.

Sold means sold. These figures are on top of smartphones sold in previous quarters. Retailers are only going to buy as many phones as they think they'll be able to sell. Go check some news articles. Plenty of retailers in the UK were reporting that the GS2 was selling out consistently.

Sold 32 million smartphones or given away. Many of there smartphone sales are buy 1 get one free. So they are stretching the truth on how many they actually sold since half of them are given away. So there actual total sales are 16 million smartphones sold and 16 million given away.
Therefore making Apple the number one smartphone in actual sales of up to 30 million iPhones sold.

Free phones are between the carrier and the consumer... not the manufacturer.

The carrier will give away a phone... because the consumer will pay dearly over the next 2 years.

The phone manufacturer still gets paid the full retail price of the phone.

Consumer electronics maker Samsung has voiced its goal of becoming the No. 1 notebook maker, but it will run up against rival Apple and its hot-selling MacBook lineup on its way to the top.on Friday.
The company took the wraps off of several new notebook models at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., this week in an effort to capture the market.

So that means Samsung will be installing Apple's MacOS X.
The only way to come close to Apple's MacBooks.

Won't these pc makers just end up taking market share from each other? I mean there are so many ultrabooks coming out I feel like they'll eat each other up, not Apple. Just like this reported Google tablet. Won't its biggest competition be the Kindle Fire, not the iPad?

Its funny how the tech world works, Apple design a phone, it changes the game, all the other manufacturers scramble to copy get in on the trend that apple created then say they either did it first or did it better :S takes them years to catch up with apples original release no less.
Same thing happened again with the macbook air.
I work with PCs its very much my job, but i gotta say, im going to be one of the first people to order the next gen air, (Hopefully Ivy bridge processor) i7 Sexiness :P

side note, i have a samsung smart tv & blueray player, so if im not buying apple tech i guess it is samsung.

The Ultrabooks shown at CES by Samsung are really nice. I don't think anyone had a better overall design. I didn't care for the HP with the glass on the top case or the 360° foldable notebook to tablet from whomever.

I think Samsung has a chance of being the most profitable non-Mac PC vendor.

I would agree with that statement. They have some nice products coming down the line. But they still have a long way to go to catch up the Apple laptop line.

Tallest Skil:

"Eventually Google will have their Afghanistan with Oracle and collapse" "The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created."

Similarly, Dell CEO Michael Dell told an audience in Bangalore, India, on Monday that tablets and smartphones are not a preferable way to browse the Web compared to computers. Dell has not had success in the smartphone market and failed in its brief foray into tablets, though the company plans to return this year, Reuters reports.

Won't these pc makers just end up taking market share from each other? I mean there are so many ultrabooks coming out I feel like they'll eat each other up, not Apple. Just like this reported Google tablet. Won't its biggest competition be the Kindle Fire, not the iPad?

If you replace "ultrabook" with "laptop" or "desktop" that's exactly what happened before. (and is still happening today)

All "WinTel" manufacturers are competing with each other. The Windows PC has been a commodity for a very long time.

It doesn't matter if you buy a Dell, HP or Acer... you're still getting a Windows computer.

There's nothing wrong with that... it's been like that since the days of the IBM PC clones. Hell... I remember reading Computer Shopper magazine in the early 90's, and it was 700 pages thick because there were 500 different companies selling computers.

Thankfully that's been whittled down to a dozen or so companies today... but they are all in the business of selling computers that run Microsoft operating systems.

The problem is that they can copy the look, the material used, and even the same chips and components, but in the end, it still runs Windows. It's still one of a thousand others that also run Windows. There's nothing special about it. It might be a better laptop than the others, but they'll never compete a long as it runs Windows. Windows PC buyers generally shop for the lowest price, and that means high-end products like these are sunk.

True about it running Windows, but on the same note, their Galaxy smartphones run Android and they were able to do well. Now that they have a MacBook Air-ish notebook that they can slap Windows on, they may attract much of the same crowd... the crowd who is finally warming up to the idea of buying decent-ish products, but who do not like the Apple brand.

It will be interesting to see what patents they have violated with this notebook. Didn't Apple patent the unibody process, for example?

Last point, I find it a really stupid metric to say how many items of a product a company sold with no regard for how much profit they made, or didn't make. All the reports say that Samsung is ahead of Apple in smartphones sold, but isn't the whole point of selling a product to make money? How much profit has Samsung made vs. Apple? Are there such reports?

side note, i have a samsung smart tv & blueray player, so if im not buying apple tech i guess it is samsung.

Yeah, I have 3 Samsung LED TVs... can't wait for an Apple television ... I wonder if the Apple TV will continue to bare the same name if/when there is an Apple television. It's going to get a little confusing.

Yeah, I have 3 Samsung LED TVs... can't wait for an Apple television ... I wonder if the Apple TV will continue to bare the same name if/when there is an Apple television. It's going to get a little confusing.

Haha good point, iTV ? iPannel iViewer, Apple TV sounds the best tho.
I have the current gen Samsung LED 3D tv, the way apple usually goes they make something everyone either had or something they never knew they wanted even better, now that CES is on, everyone is doing gesture based TVs & some with voice commands, wonder what apple will do?
Also, they will probably use a samsung OLED tech in an apple tv anyways (I think)

Must really suck to be a spokesperson for a company that virtually copies every move of the competitor. And over here we have the "lighted keyboard"! Ohh aaahhh. And guess what folks, this next laptop will have a completely all aluminum chassis! Ohh aahhh.

Since about 90% of the world uses Windows, and since Apple discovered a style that consumers like, this is clearly going to be a big hit. And like all Windows hits, everybody and his brother will start selling super skinny portable machines with SSDs in the next six months or so. Nothing wrong with that.

We have figured out how to copy the Macbook Air in a way we can get away with.

Only so far though ... The snag is everyone seems to be forgetting is a rather large fly in Samsung's ointment ... Even if they rip off Apple's harware design down to the last aluminum corner, the thing runs Windows! A MacBook Air has OS X and when you really must get down and dirty, VMWare, Parallels or Bootcamp. given these things are not dirt cheap why would anyone shell out for such a limited device, limited to a crappy OS? Please no one suggest Chrome As an second one

From Apple ][ - to new Mac Pro I've owned them all.Long on AAPL so biased"Google doesn't sell you anything, Google just sells you!"

Similarly, Dell CEO Michael Dell told an audience in Bangalore, India, on Monday that tablets and smartphones are not a preferable way to browse the Web compared to computers. Dell has not had success in the smartphone market and failed in its brief foray into tablets, though the company plans to return this year, Reuters reports.